A similarly dull question is 'How many lakes are there in the Lake District?'
I've absolutely no idea whatsoever, but I bet whatever it is, it depends how big something is (or connected) before it's called a lake. *reads* So, is there any specific trick, or is just how you choose to define lake?
At least that's arguably interesting, that lake is somewhat subjective is a point conceivably worth making. But still meh.
*thinking* Even questions where you're alerting someone to a *genuine* subtlety of a definition, aren't *that* interesting. They can be interesting in a "Hey, fact!" way, but quickly get tedious as a "Hey, I know and you don't", especially if someone is just using common terminology, rather than being ignorant/arrogant.
The states thing just seems vague. Apparently there is an interesting point buried there somewhere -- that there's a false dichotomy, and people don't realise. But dwelling on it seems so tedious[1].
[1] I recoginse that I, well, am dwelling on it :)
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Date: 2008-02-02 01:00 pm (UTC)A similarly dull question is 'How many lakes are there in the Lake District?'
I've absolutely no idea whatsoever, but I bet whatever it is, it depends how big something is (or connected) before it's called a lake. *reads* So, is there any specific trick, or is just how you choose to define lake?
At least that's arguably interesting, that lake is somewhat subjective is a point conceivably worth making. But still meh.
*thinking* Even questions where you're alerting someone to a *genuine* subtlety of a definition, aren't *that* interesting. They can be interesting in a "Hey, fact!" way, but quickly get tedious as a "Hey, I know and you don't", especially if someone is just using common terminology, rather than being ignorant/arrogant.
The states thing just seems vague. Apparently there is an interesting point buried there somewhere -- that there's a false dichotomy, and people don't realise. But dwelling on it seems so tedious[1].
[1] I recoginse that I, well, am dwelling on it :)